The
plaintiff, Nicole Esperson, brings this action against Cellco
Partnership, which does business as Verizon Wireless, Inc.
(“Verizon”). Esperson alleges that she was
discriminated against based on her sex, discharged in
retaliation for statutorily protected activities, and
subjected to a hostile work environment in violation of Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that Verizon negligently
retained an employee in violation of Illinois law, and that
Verizon defamed her in violation of Illinois law. Verizon
moves for summary judgment on all counts. For the reasons set
forth herein, that motion [67] is granted in part and denied
in part.

Background

The
following facts are undisputed unless otherwise
noted.[1] Esperson began working for Verizon
Wireless in June 2010 as a retail sales representative at
Verizon's Arlington Heights store. As a retail sales
representative, Esperson was responsible for selling Verizon
products and services, greeting customers, upgrading devices,
stocking the sales floor, and putting shipments away in
inventory. Esperson's performance was based on monthly
sales quotas applicable to all retail sales representatives.
In December 2010, Esperson transferred to Verizon's
Woodfield Mall store. She subsequently transferred to
Verizon's Gurnee store in December, 2011. At the Gurnee
store, Esperson reported to store manager Alan Zisman and
assistant managers Brian King, Henry Sanchez, and Kevin
Marolt. Zisman was on a leave of absence in 2013, and during
that time Marolt served as the acting store manager. In 2013,
Esperson also occasionally reported to Jazzmene Miller, a
floating supervisor who filled in when assistant managers or
store managers were unavailable.

Retail
sales representatives worked three overlapping shifts with
staggered start and end times. Lunch breaks were not
scheduled, but were instead taken with supervisor approval as
retail sales representatives had gaps between customers.
Esperson's schedule varied weekly.

In
order to assess performance, Verizon employed an annual
performance rating system based on set performance
objectives. Performance objectives were primarily based on an
employee's sales data, but also took into account formal
corrective actions for violations of the code of conduct or
attendance policy. There were four possible year-end
performance ratings given to retail sales representatives:
“leading, ” which was the best rating,
“performing, ” which was an intermediate rating,
“developing, ” which was the lowest possible
rating, and “new, ” which indicated that an
employee has been in a position for less than six months and
therefore does not have a rating. Verizon also employed a
four step escalating performance improvement plan. Under that
plan, an employee would receive a verbal warning, a written
warning, and a second written warning before a request for
termination would be filed with human resources.

Esperson
received a “developing” performance review rating
in 2011, which reflected her work at the Woodfield Mall
store. In March 2012, Esperson received a verbal warning for
failing to meet her required sales metrics over a three-month
period. In May 2012, Esperson progressed to a first written
warning for again failing to meet her required sales metrics
over a three-month period. In June 2012, Esperson received
her second written warning for failing to meet her required
sales metrics over a three month period. In July 2012,
Esperson received a re-issued written warning for failing to
meet her sales metrics for the past three months, and was
warned that if she did not meet her minimum sales metrics in
July she would proceed to the final step of the performance
improvement plan, a request for termination. Esperson was not
subsequently terminated, but she received a year-end
performance review rating of “developing” in
2012. In 2013, Esperson received informal warnings regarding
her performance in February, March, May, September, October,
and December. In November 2013, Esperson received a formal
verbal warning for failing to meet the threshold for sales
metrics and was again placed into the performance improvement
plan. Accordingly, Esperson received a year-end performance
review rating of “developing” in 2013. In January
2014, Esperson received a written warning concerning her
failure to meet her required sales metrics for January.

At the
time Esperson worked at the Gurnee store, Verizon's human
resources operations in the Midwest were managed by executive
director Craig Ritchie, who was assisted by associate
director Elizabeth McMahon and Ilka Nunez, a human resources
consultant. In December 2013, Ritchie instructed an
unidentified employee to run a report in the compensation
system to identify employees in the Midwest Area with three
or more years of consecutive “developing”
ratings. This report identified 19 employees who had received
“developing” ratings for 2011, 2012, and 2013. Of
those 19 employees, 13 were male and 6 were female. Ritchie
consulted with Verizon's Vice-President of Human
Resources, and the two agreed that the employees on the list
had demonstrated a consistent record of nonperformance and
should be terminated once the accuracy of the list was
confirmed. The list was confirmed to be accurate and, on
March 7, 2014, Nunez informed Esperson that she was being
terminated based on her three consecutive years of
“developing” ratings.

The
following facts are subject to dispute and are therefore
taken in a light most favorable to the plaintiff. In May
2013, Timothy Murray began working at the Gurnee store. In
October 2013, Murray sent his co-worker Esperson a text
message confessing his love for her, and stating that if she
ever broke up with her boyfriend he would like to take her
out on a date. In addition to the text message, Murray began
to follow Esperson around the store and repeatedly bring up
his desire to date her. Esperson refused his attention by
telling him to go away or to leave her alone, but sometimes
Murray would disregard these requests. Murray also insulted
Esperson's appearance, calling her names like “gap
tooth.”

Esperson
informed her supervisors that Murray was following her around
and showed them the text message that he had sent her. She
requested that managers ensure that Murray did not take his
lunch break at the same time as Esperson, but Murray's
lunch break continued to occasionally overlap with
Esperson's. In December 2013 Murray placed Esperson's
winter boots in the freezer for some reason. When Esperson
found out, she immediately informed Zisman.

On
December 22, 2013, Esperson and Murray were assigned to open
the store with floating supervisor Jasmine Miller. Due to
inclement weather, Murray asked Esperson if he could borrow
her Jeep to go to McDonald's for lunch. Esperson
declined, and Murray responded by asking “[w]hy do you
have to be such a bitch?” and stating that Esperson was
being “such a fucking cunt.” Miller promptly
separated Esperson and Murray. Miller attempted to e-mail
human resources after the incident, but her e-mail did not go
through. Once he was informed of the incident, Marolt, who
was serving as the acting store manager, instructed Esperson
not to report the incident to human resources because human
resources might respond by transferring Esperson to another
store in order to separate her from Murray. Zisman, who was
the store manager, subsequently informed Marolt that he
needed to report the incident to human resources due to its
serious nature. Ultimately, Zisman informed human resources
of the incident in late January, 2014. Nunez, who was a human
resources consultant, conducted an investigation of the
incident. Esperson, during her interview with Nunez, informed
Nunez that she felt safe remaining at the Gurnee location and
did not want human resources to transfer herself or Murray to
another location. Instead, she asked that Murray be placed on
a corrective action. Nunez concluded that Murray's
conduct on December 22 constituted a violation of
Verizon's code of conduct. Because Murray had received a
final written warning nine months before, Nunez re-issued
that final written warning.

Following
the December 22 incident, Murray's conduct improved
somewhat. In an unreported incident, however, Murray walked
up to Esperson and informed her that her boyfriend was an
“asshole.” He also sent her a text message in
February 2014 complaining that she had “dumped” a
customer on him. Esperson was terminated soon thereafter.

During
2011 and 2012, Esperson dated Verizon Wireless Assistant
Manager Aaron Ziomek, who worked at another location. Prior
to Esperson's transfer to the Gurnee store, Zisman, the
store manager of the Gurnee location, informed assistant
store manager Sanchez that Esperson would be moving to their
store, and that one of the reasons for her transfer was
because she was dating Ziomek, who was a manager. According
to deposition testimony, Zisman falsely informed Sanchez that
Ziomek was married at the time he was dating Esperson.

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